Elysium Planitia
| Elysium Planitia | |
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| Coordinates | 2°00′N 155°00′E / 2.0°N 155°ECoordinates: 2°00′N 155°00′E / 2.0°N 155°E |
Elysium Planitia is the second largest volcanic region on Mars, after Tharsis Montes. It is centered at 2°00′N 155°00′E / 2.0°N 155.0°E. It includes volcanoes, from north to south, Hecates Tholus, Elysium Mons and Albor Tholus. Another large volcano, Apollinaris Mons, lies south of the others. Besides having large volcanoes, Elysium Planitia has several areas with long trenches, called fossa or fossae (plural) on Mars. They include Cerberus Fossae, Elysium Fossae, and Hephaestus Fossae.
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[edit] Volcanoes of Elysium Planitia
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Elysium Mons, as seen with MOLA. Elevations shown by different colors.
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Hecates Tholus, as seen by Mars Global Surveyor.
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Hecates Tholus topography.
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Tography around Albor Tholus.
[edit] Troughs (Fossae) in Elysium Planitia
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Troughs to the East of Albor Tholus, as seen by HiRISE under the HiWish program.
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Portion of a trough (Fossae) in Elysium Planitia, as seen by HiRISE under the HiWish program. Blue indicates probably seasonal frost.
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Cerberus Fossae, as seen from THEMIS.
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Cerberus Fossae dark emission of dark material, as seen by HiRISE. Narrow band of material is coming out of the trough. Scale bar is 500 meters long.
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Cerberus Fossae, as seen by HiRISE.
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Elysium Fossae, as seen by HiRISE. Click on image to see layers.
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Hephaestus Fossae Two Vews, as seen by HiRISE. Picture on right lies to the top (north) of other picture. Fossa (geology) often form by material moving into an underground void.
A 2005 photo of Elysium Planitia by the Mars Express spacecraft shows what may be ash-covered water ice. The volume of ice is estimated to be 800 by 900 kilometers in size and 45 meters deep, similar in size and depth to the North Sea.[1] The ice is thought to be the remains of water floods and lava flows in the Cerberus Fossae fissures about 2 to 10 million years ago. The surface of the area is broken into 'plates' like broken ice floating on a lake. Impact crater counts show that the plates are up to 1 million years older than the gap material, showing that the area solidified much too slowly for the material to be basaltic lava.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Young, Kelly (2005-02-25). "'Pack ice' suggests frozen sea on Mars". New Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7039. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
- ^ John B. Murray et al., JB; Muller, JP; Neukum, G; Werner, SC; Van Gasselt, S; Hauber, E; Markiewicz, WJ; Head Jw, 3rd et al (17 March 2007). "Evidence ... for a frozen sea close to Mars' equator". Nature 434 (7031): 352–355. Bibcode 2005Natur.434..352M. doi:10.1038/nature03379. PMID 15772653.
[edit] External links
- Google Mars - zoomable map centered on Elysium Planitia, with three main volcanoes visible
- google mars - Cerebrus Fossae fissures
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